Black as pitch

Olaf Rößler

For
the
first
time
in
history
half
of
the
worlds
population
lived
in
urban
areas.
Let´s
take
Upper
Lusatia
in
Germany
as
an
example
how
the
global
challenge
is
being
managed.
This
means
the
emigration
from
rural
to
urban
regions.
Several
studies
show
that
in
just
twenty
years
from
now
the
first
small
towns
will
have
irrecoverably
disappeared.
This
trend
is
also
shown
in
the
fact
that
men
are
leaving
and
the
wolf
has
it´s
come
back.
Although
this
is
a
region
that
was
wealthy
for
centuries.
This
you
can
see
in
the
old
architecture
and
diverse
in
culture.
There
even
were
a
lot
of
structural
changes
several
times:
How
mankind
has
left
it`s
footprint
from
the
early
medieval
times,
the
feudalism,
through
the
industrialisation,
the
communist
era
to
this
present
day.
I’ve
decided
not
to
show
the
outcome
of
my
thesis
in
a
traditional
documentary
way.
I
took
the
challenge
to
create
a
new
contemporary
image
of
these
landscapes
which
have
been
struck
by
huge
big
socially
upheavals,
especially
during
the
last
twenty
years.
Since
the
reunion
of
Germany
this
region
is
bleeding
to
death.
My
photos
are
infuenced
by
the
work
of
the
German
romantic
painters
Carl-­‐Gustav
Carus,
Karl
Eduard
Blechen
und
Caspar
David
Friedrich.
These
painters
have
also
worked
in
this
region,
the
south
east
of
Germany,
a
part
of
the
former
German
Democratic
Republic
close
to
the
border
of
Poland
and
the
Czech
Republic.
But
they
did
their
work
just
200
years
before
me.
Their
paintings
often
show
landscapes
in
a
romantic
light
setting,
like
sunrise,
dawn
or
the
blue
hour.
My
photos
are
not
taken
at
daytime
with
unsettled
light.
My
pictures
were
taken
at
night,
without
any
visible
light.
The
nights
in
this
area
are
really
dark
black,
there
are
no
big
cities
and
the
streetlights
in
the
villages
are
turned
off
at
midnight.
Which
means
that
there
is
no
light
pollution
in
the
sky,
it
is
actually
as
black
as
pitch.
The
landscapes
in
the
photos
are
only
visible
through
the
photographic
process.
The
outcome
is
a
special
kind
of
contrast
and
subtly
chromaticity
that
rises
from
the
dark
black,
a
picturesque
landscape
which
is
usually
hidden
in
the
dark
for
the
human
eye.
The
title
of
each
picture
refers
to
the
place
of
origin:
Kottmar,
Schlegel,
Olbersdorf,
Tauchritz,
Oberoderwitz.
The
pictures
are
contemporary
landscapes,
with
contemporary
issues:
The
incomplete
bridge
in
the
forest
and
the
wind
generator
on
the
hill
are
a
an
example.
The
first
for
new
infrastucture
and
the
second
for
new
technology.
The
lake
with
the
playground
which
is
a
former
coal
daylight
mine,
the
green
house
as
a
symbol
for
the
permanent
industrial
outcome.
Each
issue
is
supposed
to
be
a
promise
for
a
better
future,
for
jobs,
for
higher
living
standards.
But
is
this
true?
The
last
photo
shows
houses,
a
part
of
a
town
in
a
romantic
environment.
I
am
asking
for
the
relationship
between
men
and
nature.
It
looks
so picturesque
romantic
and
on
the
other
hand
so
oppressive
like
a
dark
vision.
It
leave
you
with
a
ambivalent
feeling.
The
mystical
atmospheric
impression
of
„black
as
pitch“
refers
to
Lars
von
Triers
cinematic
picture
language.
The
images
are
telling
their
own
stories
and
might
inspire
you
to
a
night-­‐time
road
trip
on
memory
lane.
In
the
end
they
leave
us
with
questions
like:
What
remains
if
men
are
gone?
„Black
as
pitch“
was
originated
in
the
summer
of
2012
for
my
photography
diploma
degree
at
the
University
of
Applied
Sciences
Bielefeld.
I’ve
worked
on
the
photos
for
three
months
every
night
under
every
weather
condition.
I´ve
visited
about
one
hundred
places
several
times
to
find
the
right
exposure
by
try
and
error,
as
I
couldn´t
see
anything.
„Black
as
pitch“
is
a
photographic
work
about
my
motherland
that
I
left
fifteen
years
ago.